"Darkrai!"
A sudden shout rang out, and Xiaozhi and Xiaohao both rushed out of their tent, chasing after Darkrai.
Lu Ze followed behind them. After a moment of hesitation, he pulled out a Poké Ball and sent out his own Articuno.
"Just tail those two. That's enough."
"Leah?"
Articuno looked confused — it had seen Darkrai too.
So they weren't chasing Darkrai directly?
"Chasing Darkrai would be pointless. Just follow Xiaozhi, and we'll find it eventually."
Lu Ze smiled, climbing onto Articuno's back.
Darkrai had the ability to sink into shadows. If Darkrai truly didn't want to be found, there was no way to track it at all.
But following Xiaozhi was different. As long as he kept pace with Xiaozhi, they'd inevitably cross paths with Darkrai eventually.
Xiaozhi and Xiaohao sprinted through the forest, while Lu Ze flew overhead at a leisurely pace, keeping the two in sight.
It wasn't long before he spotted two people and a Pokémon near the distant shoreline.
"Cresselia?"
Catching sight of that Pokémon, Lu Ze immediately understood the situation.
Darkrai had come to find Cresselia?
Before long, Xiaozhi and Xiaohao — having lost Darkrai's trail — ran into Xiaochun and Xiaoguang.
"Huh? What are you two doing here?"
All four of them were surprised, but they quickly warmed up to each other.
Lu Ze landed in the forest and walked over to join the group.
Xiaoguang knew Lu Ze as well.
Back when Xiaozhi was traveling through the Kalos region, he had met Xiaoguang.
"Cresselia — what's going on with it?"
Catching sight of Cresselia, Xiaozhi was curious too.
Xiaozhi and Xiaohao traded theories back and forth and figured it out: Darkrai had gotten into a fight with Cresselia, wounded it, and was now pursuing it.
"Wait!"
Just as they were getting into it, Xiaochun cut in.
"Even though there's no hard evidence, I feel like those two might not actually be enemies."
When Xiaochun finished, Xiaohao gave her a strange look. "Then who wounded Cresselia?"
"Yah!"
Before Xiaohao could finish his question, Cresselia suddenly snapped its head around to look behind it, toward the sky.
In the sky, a spaceship was approaching. Several members of Team Rocket jumped out.
"Team Rocket!"
"Team Rocket, huh?"
Lu Ze was surprised.
But what surprised him even more was that Xiaozhi had already thrown out all of his Poké Balls.
Dragonite, Gengar, Lucario, Pikachu, Sirfetch'd, and Inteleon all appeared on the field at once.
Without needing Lu Ze to lift a finger, Xiaozhi's full-team combat strength was still quite impressive — he made quick work of the Rocket members and won easily.
Darkrai sensed the battle and arrived shortly after.
But the fight was already over. Darkrai simply used Dark Void, putting the Rocket members into a deep sleep, then left with Cresselia.
As for the remaining Rocket members, those were left for Officer Jenny to handle.
"So they're not enemies after all."
"You could only say that much — that they're not enemies with each other."
Lu Ze said softly, a faint smile on his face, though the words didn't reach Xiaozhi and Xiaochun ahead.
From what he remembered, Darkrai and Cresselia were supposed to be enemies.
Then again, even Pokémon of the same species had individual personalities. Of course their relationships would differ.
With the Darkrai and Cresselia matter resolved, it was already getting late. The group set up tents right there on the beach and slept through the night.
Nothing worth mentioning happened that night. The next morning, everyone woke up bright and early.
Xiaochun wanted to enter a Pokémon Contest. Xiaozhi and Xiaohao, on the other hand, wanted to take part in the Pokémon Catch-and-Climb Adventure 3 — catching Pokémon along the way to the mountaintop.
Lu Ze had originally planned to go with them, but he received a call from Sui Yan.
"Let's have a battle!"
"A battle? What do you mean?"
Lu Ze froze, then looked at Sui Yan in surprise. "You've reached Ultra Ball tier already?"
"Of course!"
Sui Yan nodded firmly. "I'm in the Sinnoh region right now. Where are you? I'll come find you."
"I'm in Sinnoh too."
After Lu Ze spoke, he glanced at Xiaozhi and Xiaohao.
Xiaozhi was torn.
He really wanted to watch Lu Ze and Sui Yan's match.
But he also had to go with Xiaohao to take part in the adventure competition.
"Why don't we go to the Alola region?"
Lu Ze smiled as he spoke to Sui Yan. "Let's do it in Alola. They've got Z-Moves there."
"Z-Moves?"
Sui Yan's interest was piqued. "You mean the move you had Snorlax use before?"
"That's the one."
"Alright, wait for me!"
"Sure. Text me when you get here."
After Lu Ze hung up, he turned to look at Xiaozhi and Xiaohao.
"Let's go?"
"出发!"
Xiaozhi nodded happily, and the three of them boarded a plane to Alola.
Once they arrived in Alola, Lu Ze sent Sui Yan his location, then headed to the stands to watch Xiaozhi and Xiaohao compete.
"Pretty good, huh?"
"Why'd you get here so fast?"
"Charizard, of course."
Sui Yan smiled, his gaze shifting to the screen showing Xiaozhi and Xiaohao.
The competition was entering its final stretch.
Xiaozhi and Xiaohao were up against two brothers — one red, one blue. Both full of fire, both pushing for the finish line.
The final results were about to come in.
In the end, Xiaozhi and Xiaohao took the championship.
But the Full Power Brothers also received a year's worth of Marrasadh fried bread.
"Those, uh, fried bread things — are they any good?"
"How would I know?"
"Didn't you come to this region before?"
"But I never came to this particular region before either."
Lu Ze laughed. "If you're that curious, go up and ask them for a couple to try."
"I'm not that shameless, okay."
Sui Yan clicked his tongue. Xiaozhi and Xiaohao returned just then.
Lu Ze and Sui Yan weren't in any rush. They waited for the spectators to clear out before Sui Yan sent Lu Ze a battle invitation.
"Let's have a beach battle!"
"Sure."
Lu Ze smiled and accepted.
Before long, a Drone Rotom arrived. Lu Ze and Sui Yan's battle officially began.
Both had agreed to battle using Pokémon at the Guardian-class, third-stage power level.
Sui Yan's Guardian-class third-stage Pokémon were only Marowak, Ceruledge, and Camerupt — three in total.
Lu Ze, on the other hand, had Kyurem, Whimsicott, and Hydregion — four Pokémon.
In terms of options, Lu Ze had one more pick than Sui Yan.
But the final result was far from certain. Sui Yan's strength right now was no joke.
Just from their conversation earlier, Lu Ze had learned Sui Yan's current ranking — and that he had just defeated Sheilan.
Lu Ze had pointed out that if Sheilan hadn't chosen to send out Roserade, the outcome of that battle might have been different.
But Sui Yan had brushed it off. As long as he could beat her once, he could beat her a second time.
And the two of them had also agreed — in two days, the two of them would have another battle.
If Sui Yan won that one too, then Lu Ze would have nothing to say about it.
Sheilan's strength wasn't weak either, Lu Ze had to admit.
In the arena, the Drone Rotom arrived, and the battle officially began.
After both trainers simultaneously sent out their Pokémon, Sui Yan chose Ceruledge — and Lu Ze chose Ceruledge.
"It looks like we still have that默契, don't we?"
Sui Yan smiled, looking at Lu Ze's Ceruledge.
Meanwhile, Xiaohao, who was watching from the sidelines, took out his own Rotom Phone and scanned Ceruledge to check its details.
"Battle start!"
The Drone Rotom announced the start.
At the moment the battle began, Sui Yan immediately directed his Ceruledge to attack.
"Ceruledge, Shadow Ball!"
Both Pokémon were evolved forms of the Charcadet line, but different branches entirely.
Ceruledge was more geared toward special attack — a Fire and Psychic type.
Ceruledge was stronger in physical attacks — a Fire and Ghost type.
The two Pokémon had different type matchups, but both were equally weak to Ground, Rock, Ghost, Water, and Dark-type moves.
In this kind of situation, Ceruledge had the clear advantage in the type matchup.
"Shadow Ball!"
Facing Ceruledge's attack, Lu Ze's Ceruledge fired its own Shadow Ball back.
The two Shadow Balls collided in midair, producing an explosion.
Smoke billowed outward. Sui Yan's lips curled slightly.
Based on his understanding of Lu Ze, Ceruledge was probably about to burst out of the smoke and charge in.
"Wide Guard!"
Bang!
Ceruledge's psychic energy erupted outward. The moment Lu Ze's Ceruledge charged out of the smoke, the Psychic-type force smashed it back into the smoke.
Seeing this, Lu Ze was impressed. "Looks like we really do have that默契, huh."
"Told you."
Sui Yan smiled, then directed Ceruledge to attack again. "Heat Wave!"
The Heat Wave swept through the smoke, pushing toward Ceruledge.
But the moment the smoke cleared, Sui Yan and Ceruledge both froze.
Ceruledge was already gone from the field.
Then Sui Yan snapped back to his senses — he understood immediately how Ceruledge had vanished.
"Wide Guard!"
Sui Yan hastily directed Ceruledge to use Wide Guard again, trying to blast Ceruledge out the instant it reappeared from the dimensional space, preventing the incoming attack.
But Heat Wave had just finished. The instant Ceruledge was about to use Wide Guard, Lu Ze's Ceruledge had already appeared directly in front of it.
One strike!
Ceruledge sent Camerupt flying.
"Shadow Claw!"
As Camerupt sailed backward, Ceruledge was already charging again.
The Shadow Claw landed on Ceruledge's body. The next moment, Camerupt — which had just landed and raised its arms to block — suddenly found itself engulfed in raging flames.
The armor burned away, flowing like light as it condensed into the right arm.
Then the Cannon Blast fired!
A direct, point-blank hit on Ceruledge sent it flying.
Camerupt breathed heavily as it stood back up. Lu Ze's Ceruledge recovered quickly too, its gaze locked on Camerupt with deadly seriousness.
Fire-type moves could only deal half damage to Ceruledge.
That was why Ceruledge hadn't been knocked out in one hit.
"Sunny Day!"
Seeing this, Sui Yan made his decision.
If his Camerupt couldn't break through to Guardian-class, it probably couldn't beat Ceruledge.
In that case, he might as well set up weather for the Pokémon coming next.
After all, this was a three-versus-three battle.
One Pokémon's victory or defeat couldn't determine the final outcome!
Seeing Camerupt change the weather, Lu Ze didn't hesitate. He directed his Ceruledge to press the attack and finish the battle.
"Bang!"
Ceruledge moved at lightning speed, appearing in front of Camerupt the instant Sunny Day appeared. The Shadow Claw struck Camerupt hard.
Camerupt flew backward, knocked out.
"Camerupt is unable to battle. Please switch to a different Pokémon!"
Following the Drone Rotom's announcement, Sui Yan took out his Poké Ball and recalled his defeated Camerupt.
"Why did he change the weather instead of keeping up the fight?"
Xiaohao was puzzled. He wasn't a professional Trainer, after all.
"This is a three-on-three battle. Once Camerupt was confirmed to be no match for Ceruledge, switching to change the weather meant the next Pokémon to enter would have weather advantage."
Xiaozhi was not only a professional Trainer — he was very familiar with Sui Yan's team composition too.
Sui Yan ran a sun team, and sun teams relied heavily on Sunny Day's boosts.
"Go, Camerupt!"
Somewhat to Lu Ze's surprise, Sui Yan's second Pokémon wasn't Marowak — the obvious choice to counter Ceruledge.
Alola Marowak was a Fire and Ghost type. Ghost-type moves could deal double super-effective damage to Ceruledge.
But Camerupt?
"Camerupt, Mega Evolution!"
In Lu Ze's stunned gaze, Sui Yan immediately had Camerupt Mega Evolve.
"Come back, Ceruledge."
"Rock Slide!"
A barrage of rocks rained down. Before Ceruledge could even return to its Poké Ball, the rocks struck Ceruledge directly.
Lu Ze opened the Poké Ball — but only succeeded in recalling a fainted Ceruledge.
Lu Ze fell silent for a moment, shaking his head ruefully.
Camerupt's Rock Slide had been too fast.
He'd almost managed to recall Ceruledge in time.
But now — who should he send out next?
Whimsicott? Kyurem? Or Hydregion?
———
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